St. Louis Cops Reminded to Let Journalists Do Their Job

Reporters and photographers were among those swept up by police for failing to disperse during protests in September. After the Post-Dispatch complained, police officials say officers will be reminded each month that journalists must be allowed to do their job . . .

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The dramatic reforms in Latin American justice systems over the past two decades, which some have called the most significant in nearly two centuries, still fall short of international human rights standards, according to a study sponsored by the Open Society Foundations. The study, released this week under the title “Effective Criminal Defence in Latin America,” evaluates the impact of reforms in criminal defense systems in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru over a 36-month period between 2012 and 2014–and notes that despite the “profound” changes in criminal defense procedures, justice authorities in those countries need to do a better job of of providing access to free legal representation and informing defendants of their rights.

The 21st Century Cures Act provided $500 million to deal with the opioid crisis but three-quarters of it remains unspent. The law's two-year spending span makes it difficult for treatment providers to build long-term programs. "This is a total failure," says one expert.

Opponents of gun control argue that better attention to mentally troubled individuals will do more to prevent mass shootings than restricting access to firearms to the general population. But our columnist argues that there is little evidence supporting mental illness as a critical factor in acts of tragic violence.

Ty Cobb, an attorney for President Trump, says he is not considering the firing of special counsel Robert Mueller. Cobb issued a statement after another Trump lawyer, John Dowd, seemed to be laying the groundwork for dismissing Mueller. Dowd called the special counsel's probe "corrupted" by political bias.

Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe was dismissed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions hours before his retirement, likely costing him pension benefits. McCabe says the firing is part of an effort to slander him and to "taint the FBI, law enforcement, and intelligence professionals more generally."